Making Mistakes But Being A Scout

September 29, 2009

I’m not talking about knowing how to tie knots or make a raft (though I’m sure somehow these skills could come in handy to the young professional). No, I’m talking about that old motto “Be Prepared“.

I wanted to follow up on a great comment by Lance on a post of mine. He refers to a few techniques he’s developed to deal with both time poor and less guiding managers.

Regular meetings with preparation.

Multiple solutions to any problems.

Which leads me to the reason behind the title and a story from personal experience. A long lasting problem that no one was aware of surfaced at work. I was tasked with finding and implementing the solution. The ultimate results though weren’t going to be immediately visible by myself. Sure enough, a couple of days later I get a phone call.

“Um, Anthony, we’re not to sure about the results. Can you explain these numbers?”

So I’m pulled into a meeting a fair few floors above my own. But I had unknowingly followed the above advice. I had two solutions to the problem. So in the meeting I was able to accurately explain what had gone wrong and what corrective steps were required. It worked out so well that the senior manager commented later on that he was impressed with how I had handled the meeting.